The original was set feudal Edo period, and chronicles the story of Ogami Itto, the Shogun’s elite executioner. In an attempt to take his position, the rival Yagyu clan falsely accuses Itto of a crime and murders his wife. Disgraced, Itto is forced to wander Japan with his three-year-old son Daigoro as an assassin for hire, earning the title “Lone Wolf and Cub.” Ultimately, Itto and Daigoro seek revenge on the Yagyu clan. Koike’s manga, published in the United States by Dark Horse Comics, is considered a seminal work.

The film marks the first collaboration between Kamala Films and 1212 Entertainment. Kamala is currently in development on Jeff Guinn’s Go Down Together: The True, Untold Story of Bonnie and Clyde with Furst Films, and the screen adaptation of the Curtis Sittenfeld novel American Wife with Red Crown. 1212 is producing an adaptation of the Taito video game Space Invaders.

The scribes have storied credits including Blade Runner, Unforgiven and Twelve Monkeys, while Lin is working on Universal’s sixth installment of The Fast and the Furious. “I’ve long admired the Peoples and their enduring body of work,” Lin said. “They’re a wonderful match for Lone Wolf and Cub and I’m really looking forward to collaborating with them on this powerful, epic tale.” CAA reps the writers and Lin and the helmer’s also repped by Cinetic and Sloss Eckhouse LawCo.

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One thing actor Sam Worthington is famously refreshing for in junket interviews is his candidness. That quality seems to have been passed on to his “Wrath of the Titans” co-star Toby Kebbell who spoke quite honestly about the on again/off again live-action “Akira” remake at Warners which he was linked to late last year.

At the time Kebbell was in the running to play Tetsuo alongside Garrett Hedlund as Kaneda, rumors that Kebbell has now confirmed were true in an interview with IFC.

“Yes, that was genuine… They were like, ‘This is going to be a big franchise!. So I said, ‘Then in that case, understand that I’ve read the comics, and I’ve read the comics that got turned into the annuals, and then the annuals that got turned into the one-off anime. So if you really want to do it, then why don’t you look at the six comics and just put two into each film?’”

He continues, “That way my character, Tetsuo, is not the lead. He’s not the second lead, and he’s not the third or the fourth lead, because there are eight major characters there. You’ve got great young actors, and you could get them in there. That’s the way to do it if you want to do sequels. They were like, ‘Welllll…’. So I told them, ‘Then this is a remake [of the animated movie], and I don’t want to do a live-action remake of the cartoon, because [the cartoon] is perfect and you’re not going to do it dark enough — so therefore, I don’t want to do it.”

Part of his hesitancy seems to be the changes that were in store – “I was desperate to play Tetsuo, but Tetsuo in the comic and annual form… The other thing they wanted to do was make [Tetsuo and Kaneda] brothers. I was like, ‘The point is that Tetsuo can’t comprehend how someone who isn’t his brother could love him so much — and that’s where his wrath and his rage come from. Do you not see that? Why have you made them brothers? What the fuck are you doing?’”

He caps it off saying “I was desperate to do it, but I just hoped they were going to take the six annuals and adapt them. Having said that, they’ll probably read this and go, ‘We’re never working with him again.’ But I wish they would. Sometimes it’s a shame that money rules, because there are great stories to be told out there.”

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Last week Michael Bay responded to all the talk about the new alien origins of the “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” in his company’s upcoming reboot of the property.

This week, Bay has followed that up with a second statement – this time about the talk of the title change to just “Ninja Turtles”. Bay says on his official site:

“Paramount marketing changed the name. They made the title simple. The characters you all remember are exactly the same, and yes they still act like teenagers. Everything you remember, why you liked the characters, is in the movie.

This script is being developed by two very smart writers, with one of the original creators of Ninja Turtles. They care VERY MUCH about making this film for the fans. Everyone on this team cares about the fans. Just give them a chance. Jonathan the director, is a major fan of the whole franchise. HE’S NOT GOING TO LET YOU DOWN.”

Bleeding Cool has verified that the working title of the upcoming Paramount-Nickelodeon Turtle movie from producer Michael Bay and director Jonathan Libesman is going by the working title of Ninja Turtles. We know all too well where the “Mutant” bit went, but now it seems we’re also losing “Teenage.”

We haven’t been able to get a definite statement as to why this title change is occurring, and our sources are not 100% clear on whether or not the Turtles will indeed be adolescents.

One of our sources has said:

It seems to be driven by marketing. Think of John Carter and how Disney wouldn’t allow for a title with either “Princess” or “Mars”.

Also, I suppose, if they have to remove the word Mutant from the title because it doesn’t make sense any more, you’d want to get rid of Teenage too, for scansion as much as anything else. We can’t take it for granted yet that the Turtles won’t be aged 13-19.

Though, suddenly, I’m starting to think the whole issue of how old they are is going to be dodged. I also expect all of their overtly teenage characteristics are going to be shelved.

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With Marvel gearing up to begin production on a third “Iron Man” film in late May in North Carolina, a casting call has gone out confirming which characters from the previous films are coming back.

Joining Robert Downey Jr. are Gwyneth Paltrow as Pepper Potts and Don Cheadle as Jim Rhodes, no surprises there. The surprise is that Scarlett Johansson will also return as Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow which she played in the second film and the upcoming “The Avengers”.

The films writer/director Shane Black recently said not to expect any other heroes from Marvels universe in “Iron Man 3″ as the plan is to go back to “self-contained single-character stories” while the antagonists will be real world villains and the tone akin to a Tom Clancy-thriller.

Speaking of “The Avengers”, a bunch of new photos are out along with some new French character trailers for Black Widow, Nick Fury, Iron Man, Thor and Captain America which have gone online at CineComics Youtube Channel.

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Chloe Moretz was offered the starring role in Kimberly Peirce’s Carrie remake. As we learned in January, Kimberly Peirce is working with MGM to remake the classic high school horror, Carrie and our violent little darling has been asked to fill Sissy Spacek’s shoes in the iconic role. Check out the article from the Washington Post this morning!~

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At Wondercon this year, we came across the 501st booth and saw that there were having a fundraiser to try to raise money for a little girl named Leah. Here is the photo that tells her story:

Of course we rushed to donate artwork to help this cause. Justin was kind enough to donate every single piece of Star Wars art that he had so that we could help this child in need.

Please visit their EBAY site and bid on anything and everything there so that you can help raise money for her. You can also visit their website here to check on her updates and to read more about this little girl.